Mosin Nagant M44 question

I just picked up my first Mosin today. It's an M44 that I ordered online for $200 and paid an extra $10 for a hand pick best of five. This is my first military surplus rifle, so I didn't know what to expect.
I noticed that there are some serious dings in the wood stock. More than a few. There is no metal around the slots for the rear sling attachment.
I was expecting it to be in better shape since I paid the extra $10 for a hand pick. They advertise them to be arsenally refinished to excellent condition. What do you guys think? Would you expect the wood to be in better shape?

Most the remaining M 44s are not as nice as before. Lets say , ten years ago when they were available, the new unissued ones were priced at $60 . I got mine for $ 70 wrapped in some wax paper. Those prices lasted till 2007 and them things were gone for some reason .

M44s are getting rarer and scarcer to find today. If the bore is mint and all matching, $200 is about right nowadays.

Bigdog57

June 11, 2011, 03:46 PM

Even Mosins will get scarcer and in less desirable condition - just so many (a LOT!) made. Took longer than for other makes.
Bought mine about six years ago for $100 - like NEW condition with cartouche-heavy blonde stock - a real beauty! The dingy used M44s were going for $69 then.
Paid $150 last year for a rearsenalled example - it was in very good shape, but no as good as my Russian Blonde!
Not all had the metal around the sling slots - lots of variation depending on year of manufacture.
A tip - the short leather buckled straps from Swiss mountain rucks make very convincing Mosin dog-collars!

Gordon_Freeman

June 11, 2011, 05:19 PM

Here are some pics of the stock.

nathan

June 11, 2011, 06:02 PM

Actually that s similar to mine . THats a great price in today's market. I woulnt worry of the dings. IN fact, steaming them out is easy. Use a wet rug on top of the dings and a hot iron over it for few seconds, then do it again.

bigedp51

June 11, 2011, 06:14 PM

Gordon_Freeman

1. Call the company back and tell them you are NOT satisfied with your "hand picked" M-44. Chances are they will try and help you if you remain calm and don't try and choke the other person at the other end of the phone.

2. NEVER buy something you can't hold in your hand.

3. Example

Hey GI, I will sell you one of my beautiful sisters and she will rock your world, but first you pay me and when you get back to hotel you can take off the burka...............

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/bintsintheback.jpg

You run back to your hotel room and remove the burka :eek:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/egypt.jpg

Welcome to the real world, and tell them you want a better M-44 :cuss:

First four, Viet Nam bring back Chinese T-53 (M-44 clone) M-38, M-44, M91/30 every one of these rifles hanging from the ceiling I held in my hand before buying it ;)

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/IMGP6390.jpg

If these highly trained, well paid individuals can't put the correct caliber import stamp on your M-44, WHAT do you think "hand Picked" means.

7.83x04R??? I was going to sell this to someone but he said he did want to buy any strange caliber Russian rifle. :eek:

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/IMGP6536.jpg

caribou

June 11, 2011, 06:53 PM

Your stock is a midwar with 'no rear sling slot guards'.

Prewar slot guards were screwed in, with 2 small screws, postwar had both sling slots with pressed in.

Yours seems to have gone through refurb, intact. Your stock, though bumped, is not common at all, it sould have had sling slot guards pressed in during refurb......is it matching?

Gordon_Freeman

June 11, 2011, 08:09 PM

The rifle does have the four matching numbers. Maybe that is what they looked for when "hand picked."

dirtyjim

June 11, 2011, 08:22 PM

depending on the wholesaler hand picked can be the best rifle out of 5 or the best rifle out of 10, but it usually means the billy bob hand picked it off the top of the pallet then dropped it on the floor several times before boxing it up

Gordon_Freeman

June 11, 2011, 08:52 PM

Everything but the stock seems to be in good shape. I doubt I could even find an M44 locally. I'm thinking it would be a real pain to send this gun back.

KimberUltra

June 11, 2011, 09:45 PM

I don't mean to hijack the thread but why are mosins so cheap? Seems everyon wants one

Dreamcast270mhz

June 11, 2011, 09:59 PM

They are cheap, accurate rifles, and some are more accurate than modern rifles. The run of the mill 91/30 can get about 2MOA with decent ammo. With tinkering, I have seen sub MOA at 200 yards (1/2 in 5 shot group)

caribou

June 11, 2011, 10:44 PM

Why so cheap???

Russia/Soviet Union made a few million, and now they are 'obsolete'and being sold off for scrap weight from old soviet stocks for coins on the doller, like 6-7$ each, "wholesale" from Ukraine and Russia, imported and sold to "U.S." after passing through various "middle men" and on to you.

The value of the rifle is relevent to those who are selling them, as they do not have the same "Values" as we do for things, especcially when they were being manufactured, but now the former Soviet Union is cash strapped and selling AK's, RPG's and Tanks, these are just quick $$ to them.

Mosin Nagants are Not 'Cheap' by any standard, they are 'inexpensive' and a 'Great Bargin" to boot.

mgkdrgn

June 11, 2011, 11:31 PM

The arsenal rebuilds them to line issue functional condition ... they don't much care what they look like, but they DO care how well they shoot! Many many of the M44's don't, and never had any metal inserts where the sling goes.

Most of those minor dings and dents you can steam out of the stock (clothes iron, wet cloth).

mgkdrgn

June 11, 2011, 11:35 PM

I don't mean to hijack the thread but why are mosins so cheap? Seems everyon wants one
They are so "inexpensive" because the Russians made them by the millions during WWII. They collected them all up, arsenal rebuilt them to line issue specs, then stored them away waiting on WWIII ... like 17.4 million of them.
Someone has now decided that WWIII won't be fought with bolt action rifles, so they are dumping them on the market for hard currency.
Center fire rifle deal of the decade, if not the century, and a bonified bit of history to boot. Get one cheap wile you still can.

Apocalypse-Now

June 12, 2011, 05:38 AM

by "hand picked", most online gun dealers are referring to what they do with their nose before boxing up your gun.

USAF_Vet

June 12, 2011, 12:43 PM

When I paid the extra for a hand picked M91/30, it meant that I got to go through the crate and pick the one I wanted, versus just grabbing the one on the display rack. I'd never pay a hand picked fee from an online dealer. Having said that, I paid $150 for my M-44, sight unseen from a C&R collector. Well, I saw some flikr photos, but that is a far cry from laying hand on it.
Nicks and dings in the stock is common, even for an arsenal refurb. You should have seen my M-44 when I got it. It didn't have the luxury of an arsenal refurb. I sanded it down and restained it. and now it looks great. The upper handguard was a loss, and it has lost 70% of it's bluing. But it's as close to a tack driver as a Mosin is going to get without dropping a load of cash on accurizing it.

nathan

June 12, 2011, 01:01 PM

Shooting one of these is a hoot. It has plenty of power and recoil for the first timer. The blast is deafening. Just try it and enjoy. WHile the next guy is rapid firing his M 4 and emptying the magful, you only need one boom to knock off the target. Precious . ANd nice piece to talk about . M44s were used by attacking Russian troops into Berlin. VC famers slung them while working in the fields. If a US chopper makes a low pass , they take popshots on the hydraulics and some even were lucky to bring them down. US vets attest to that . They are small but robust rifles capable of bigger things.

Gordon_Freeman

June 12, 2011, 03:38 PM

Thanks for all the input fellas. I checked the Mosin Forum and they told me that what I have is normal. I'm going to keep this one.
I recently got the urge to buy guns from WWII. I figured the Mosin is a good place to start. It looks like the price will keep going up on these. I started with the M44 because they might be harder to find in the future.